Page 104 of Anarchy Missing

But when my fist crashes into the screen, it does break. Long, sharp shards of glass that glint red from the still-flashing screen.

Like it was made specially for this moment.

I pick one up, fist it hard in my hand until blood is running down my palms.

And I cut.

I cut deep.

Everything goes red after that. Red on the walls, red bursting out from my body. Red everywhere.

“What the fuck?” the guy in the next cell is yelling. “What the fuck is happening in there?”

I lose time as the pain fades. The heat fades. The alarm fades. Everything fades but the light. The only thing left is the light.

“You’re ready now,” the voice says. But the voice is on the SpyGlass screen.

It’s real. It’s talking to me and it’s real. “I’m not crazy.” I laugh hysterically.

“You’re a fucking nut,” the guy in the next cell calls back.

“Pay attention, Case Reider,” the screen says. “It’s time to finish what we started.”

The lock on my door lets off an electronic beep and then clicks open.

“You know what to do now,” the screen says. “See you at the end.”

I walk to the door and throw it the rest of the way open, making it slam so hard, it slides into the wall and jams the mechanism. Ruined.

The power coursing through my body is insane. I can feel it. I can feel the way the heat has been changing me all these weeks and months. I know what the pain was now.

Supervillain strength.

An alarm blares and red lights, emergency flashers mounted on the ceiling, project a rotating pattern on the walls as I leave the cell and take three steps, then turn my head to the right when the guy in the next cell says, “Hey, Deep Cut, how about a little help here, huh?” He nods to his cell door.

Deep Cut. I shake my head and close my eyes. Confused. “What did you call me?” I growl out in an unfamiliar voice.

“Deep Cut,” he says again. “That’s what you were yelling back there. All this time you’ve been yelling, ‘I’m Deep Cut and I’m coming for you.’ So hey, Deep Cut, I think we might have some common goals. You wanna do me a favor and let me out too?”

People are yelling outside the cell block. The door bursts open and two guards come crashing through it, ElectroDarts poised on target, and the target is me.

“Stop!” one guy yells. “Put your hands behind your head and—”

I laugh.

“Turn around, place your hands on the wall—”

I lunge—darts fly out towards me. Everything slows down and I can almost watch the thin silver tubes filled with electrical charge as they come towards my chest.

One strikes, then other.

My chest muscles constrict at the same time, making me feel like I’m coming together.

“What the fuck?” the first guys says. “Get on your knees or I’ll shoot again!”

I pull the darts out. They vibrate, still filled with voltage that wants to escape. Wants to fill my body up and knock me down.

But I feel… nothing.